Dora M. Peñagarícano 

Ms. Peñagarícano concentrates in intellectual property and commercial litigation cases. Before joining McConnell Valdés, Ms. Peñagarícano was a law clerk to the Hon. Wilfredo Alicea López, the Hon. Pedro López Oliver, and to the Hon. Arnaldo López Rodríguez, Extraordinary Writs Section of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico.

Ms. Peñagarícano is the President of the Intellectual Property Law Committee of the Puerto Rico Bar Association. In addition, for many years, she has been an active member of the International Trademark Association (INTA), a member of its Sub-Committee on Legislation in Latin America, and a member of its Sub-Committee on Trade Dress. She is also a member of the State Department Committee that drafted the new Trademarks Act of Puerto Rico and that is currently drafting the Regulation for the Registration of Trademarks in Puerto Rico. She has been a speaker in many Intellectual Property seminars and conferences.

Ms. Peñagarícano, together with Armando Lloréns, Esq., won a precedent setting case in the First Circuit Court of Appeals for The Clorox Company in which the Appeals Court reversed the dismissal of a Lanham Act false advertising action brought by Clorox against Procter & Gamble. This decision, The Clorox Company Puerto Rico v. The Procter & Gamble Commercial Company, 228 F.3d 24 (1st Cir. Oct. 3, 2000), was the first false advertising case decided in the First Circuit. In 2001, Ms. Peñagarícano with Mr. Lloréns successfully defended against a claim of trademark infringement for its client, PGD, Inc., in the case Doral Pharmamedics v. PGD, 148 F. Supp. 2d 127 (D.P.R. 2001). She also won a landmark case in 1998, garnering a permanent injunction against a company illegally using the name of former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres in the first "right of publicity" action brought in federal court in Puerto Rico. She also litigated the first "right-of-publicity" case in brought in state court in Puerto Rico in which the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, in 2008, established the rights of the parties. Ms. Peñagarícano was also part of the legal team that in July 2004 obtained an injunction in favor of McNeil and against Merisant ordering the withdrawal from the Puerto Rico market of the yellow SAME artificial sweetener product, since its trade dress was a copy of the trade dress of the SPLENDA artificial sweetener product. In 2009, she obtained an ex-parte TRO and seizure order in a jewelry copyright infringement case.

In addition, Ms. Peñagarícano has successfully litigated intellectual property claims for such clients as Kraft Foods, Gillette, Clorox, Shell, Carvajal, S.A., Century 21, Wels Fargo, Vitamin World, Mattel, JWT, McNeil, PGD, ConAgra, Cajun Operating Company (Church’s), Aggreko, Pernod Ricard, Kabushiki Kaisha Pilot, Danone, Quest Beads & Cast, Nobox Marketikng Group, Ponte Fresco, Gymboree, Pottery Barn, and Elba Jewelers (Sophia Fiori).